August 13, 2018

 

MY CORNER by Boyd Cathey

 

Charlottesville – Some Additional Reflections, and the Column, “Charlottesville – One Year Later” Updated

Friends,

I was in my kitchen late Sunday afternoon (August 12) and, having left Fox News on my television in another room, I overheard an interview—I could not identify at first who the lady being interviewed was. She expatiated at some length about the “climate of racism” that pervades America—she condemned President Trump for failing to condemn JUST those racists and Nazis who assembled in Charlottesville last year (no word about Black Lives Matter, the Communist Workers World Party, the Antifa anti-fascists, and others who actually instigated the violence). His “moral failing” was to equate those “white supremacists” with the noble social justice warriors on the other side who sought, as she said, to hold America “to account for not fulfilling its promise of equality and racial justice.”

I thought to myself—not having seen who the speaker was—that Fox must be interviewing some far Leftist, maybe a Democratic/socialist type. So, I poked my head around the corner: the interviewee was Kelly Jane Torrance, identified as deputy managing editor of The Weekly Standard. That’s right: The Weekly Standard, that supposedly “conservative” journal, or perhaps, to be more precise, Neoconservative journal of opinion, that boasts such writers as Steve Hayes (as editor), Robert Kagan, Bill Kristol, Max Boot, Matthew Continetti, and John Podhoretz (many of whom show up regularly on Fox).

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, after all The Weekly Standard continues to be a haven for Never Trump Neoconservatives like Boot and others who have even expressed a preference for Hillary Clinton over the president—Boot and Kristol going so far as denouncing the Republican Party and hoping for its defeat in the 2018 congressional elections.

The tenor and style of Torrance’s remarks, her usage of the ideological framework and expressions of the far Left seemed to confirm again what such authors as Drs. Paul Gottfried and Jack Kerwick, columnists Patrick Buchanan and Ilana Mercer, and others have been saying and writing for some time: the deep-seated ideological base, the fundamental philosophical moorings of Neoconservatism—the “Big Con” as my friend Jack Kerwick has denominated them—are on and come from the Trotskyite Left. Their linguistic structure and political praxis have as their genealogy a Leftist, always-advancing-and-unfolding Progressive view of history, in which conceptualizations about racism and sexism and white supremacy are understood as absolutely critical, and which are seen as dangerous impediments to realizing what they call “the idea of America.”  And that idea is grounded in the assertion that equality and an always-spreading egalitarianism is fundamental to the “promise of America,” but must, likewise, be shared, or imposed, on the rest of the world, whether it wishes it or not.

As I listened to Torrance and began to watch Fox’s coverage, I wondered: what really distinguished this “conservative” treatment from how the more forthright Leftists framed the narrative?

Not much…perhaps only in degree.

The Washington Post, which has become like The New York Times and most of the Mainstream Media (including our fawning local media) a shrill voice for the far Left and cultural Marxism, headlined its August 11 coverage with a warm embrace of the “anti-racists and anti-white supremacists” in Charlottesville: they seemed disappointed that there were no “fascists” to beat up on this year. So, the complaints they expressed in 2018 were that there were too many police, too much law enforcement present. 

Let me get this right: last year there were too few police to protect them against the Nazis and the Klan, but this year there are too many, so they still felt threatened? Ah, but then I understood, isn’t law enforcement just an extension of the white supremacist power structure, riddled with racism and bigotry? 

I quote several paragraphs from The Washington Post story (Terrence McCoy, “Anti-racist protesters and activists march through the streets of Charlottesville,” August 11, 2018, at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/local/anti-racist-protesters-and-activists-march-through-the-streets-of-charlottesville/2018/08/11/977b949c-9da2-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html): 

 “Confusion over an extraordinary police presence on the anniversary of a violent and  deadly white nationalist rally turned into anger Saturday night as hundreds of black-clad protesters marched through the streets surrounding the University of Virginia here, screaming at police and calling for an end to white supremacy. [….]  “Last year they came with torches,” said a large banner in front of a monument of Thomas Jefferson. “This year they come with badges.” 

"The mood in the crowd began to shift when, as speakers addressed a large crowd outside Brooks Hall, dozens of police officers clad in riot gear lined up along one side of the field. Many of the protesters called the police action a provocation — another symbol, they said, of the over-policing of America — and started chanting at the officers, who were holding shields and wearing helmets. 

“It’s really hard to defend our civil society when [police] do this,” said one protester, Tom Freeman. “They just marched down on us without any provocation. Nothing. It just fits everything they say about them, and I’m not even an anti-police person.” [….] 

"On the first anniversary of that rally, which ushered in another painful reckoning with racism and hatred in America, the police were neither outnumbered nor ill-prepared. All of Saturday, they were in fact inescapable, blocking roads, sealing entrances to downtown, more than 1,000 strong, on a day when a white supremacist event was not planned, but was definitely feared. [….] “I see a disproportionality,” said Lisa Woolfork, a U-Va. professor and an activist with the Charlottesville Black Lives Matter. “Unless there is something they’re not telling us and have some intelligence that the white nationalists will still march in force, it seems like who they’re gearing up to monitor and observe and contain and discipline are those of us who want to resist fascism and racism.” 

"Fascism and racism: It was just about all anyone was talking about Saturday. Up and down the streets of downtown, people discussed what those forces are in America, and what they are in Charlottesville. [….] And the President of the University of Virginia, said, for the first time, “I am sorry,” according to the Daily Progress, trying to atone for the tiki-torch march on the university’s grounds last year, which led to injuries among counter protesters. [….] 

"Nearby stood a man named Mike, who declined to give his last name, smoking a cigarette and making his way through a few beers before he started his next shift at North American Sake Brewery. He watched the dozens of police all around him, and said he started to feel angry. “It’s too much,” he said. “I’ve been here all of my life, born and raised, and I have never seen this . . . Being black in America, this doesn’t make me feel safe.” [….] 

"Hours later, at the University of Virginia, protesters took that sense of discomfort and made it action, marching along Rugby Road in a long line. Many were members of Antifa, and they held signs that condemned the university and the police, along with white supremacists. They chanted and marched as night descended and police cars whooshed by and a helicopter hovered above. 

“It’s important to show any white nationalists or supremacists that we won’t stand for this,” said student Ameenah Elam, 21. She said the racist protests last year were indicative of deeper cultures of discrimination at the university and in Charlottesville. “This has happened much more than just last year. . . The history [of racism] in Charlottesville goes way deeper than Aug. 12 of last year.”

[Terrence McCoy covers poverty, inequality and social justice in urban and rural America. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2016 George Polk Award for stories that showed how companies in an obscure industry made millions of dollars from exploitative deals with the poor and disabled.] 

Commenting on this story, and, indeed, on what is occurring in America regarding race and the near-universal charge of racism, and how it has become an ideological bludgeon with which to assault what remains of our Western and European culture, author and columnist Christopher DeGroot (on his Facebook page, August 11, 2018) offered a description that sums up what should be the reaction of all those who still hold fast to the traditions and wisdom that informed the Founders and that once guided this nation: 

“After reading this [WASHINGTON POST article] it seems to me almost metaphysically certain that there would be quotes from a mindless woman professor (count on her existence like flies in summer) and a whiny black man who feels "unsafe." In this case, he feels "unsafe" because of the police presence. For the same reason he feels "angry." He might then simply hang himself, because life does not owe you a safe existence. And if, as a matter of course, you resent the very people who risk their lives to protect you, then surely you would do better to have mercy on your own wretchedness: as I say, kill yourself. Alas for them, black men have learned to parrot the hysterical victimization vocabulary of academia's bluestockings, and the sight is contemptible beyond expression.  

“Also, the idea that these protestors are not themselves racists is nonsense. These are the race hustlers and resentment-pipers produced by academia. They aim at obtaining power and money via their whiny, incessant victimization talk. They are a cheat, and nothing could be more disgusting. I have more respect for criminals and thugs. At least they have the guts to be what they are.”  

I could not say it any better.  

But I did go back and revise the MY CORNER column of August 9 (which has also been picked up and published by Reckonin.com), and I pass it along today:

CHARLOTTESVILLE – One Year Later

(MY CORNER, August 9, 2011, at: http://boydcatheyreviewofbooks.blogspot.com/2018/08/august-9-2018-my-corner-by-boydcathey.html, and republished, August 11, 2018, slightly edited, at: https://www.reckonin.com/boyd-cathey/charlottesville-one-year-later)

August 11-12, 2018, marked the one year anniversary of the events—the riot—that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, back in 2017.  And government-funded PBS weighed in few days earlier (August 6) with a special primetime edition of its television program “Frontline.”  The feature, “Documenting Hate: Charlottesville,” is a tendentious cinematic attempt at shaping the historical narrative by the Leftist-funded, pro-Marxist group ProPublica. It portrays what happened in Mr. Jefferson’s city as a “violent riot and massacre by Nazis and violent Alt-Right fascists.”

ProPublica, which pretends to be a center for “investigative journalism,” has in some ways taken over from the increasingly discredited Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), as a self-proclaimed vehicle for “shining the light of publicity” (and launching personal attacks) on what it terms nefarious “right wing extremists.” Of course, a closer look at this tax exempt, non-profit research organization reveals that it is funded by some of the biggest “hitters”—the most affluent billionaires—on the far Left of the Democratic Party.

Here is what the Wikipedia says about ProPublica:

ProPublica was the brainchild of billionaires and Democratic donors   Herbert and Marion Sandler, former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, who have committed $10 million a year to the project.  The Sandlers hired Paul Steiger former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, to create and run the organization as editor in chief. 

Notice what this paragraph says:  Major Leftist Democratic donors—Wall Street billionaires—create this new “anti-hate” group, and then, hire the former managing editor of the—yes, supposedly “right wing”—Wall Street Journal (owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox).

Connect the dots—connect the dots between the globalist Leftwing capitalists on Wall Street, the globalist capitalist Wall Street Journal, and the Democratic Left.

ProPublica’s “Documenting Hate” uses as background President Trump’s “moral failure” over Charlottesville:  he refused to blame only the Right—those Nazis—for the violence...But stated that there was enough culpability to go round on both sides. (Remember it was such high-profile minions of the “conservative movement inc.” like Ben Shapiro, Glenn Back, and Jonah Goldberg, all of whom had been Never Trumpers, who joined the Left and led the charge to condemn the president and imply that he was a “racist” for his “failure.”)

Indeed, Black Lives Matter and Antifa—who  did not have a march/rally permit, while the Unite the Right demonstrators did—gathered specifically to challenge and engage in combat with the Rightists and, in effect, caused the riot.

Never mind; ProPublica’s narrative said not one word about that Leftist violence.  From viewing their “Frontline” exposition you would only think it was just that dangerous and armed group of Nazis, who, we are also told, have infiltrated all facets of American life (including the military) who initiated and committed mayhem. And, of course, behind it all stood and stands the political figure who has legitimated the “climate of hate”—Donald J. Trump.

A larger question remains, and not just about the fate of the monument to Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, but about all the symbols of our history all across the Southland. It is a question that all Southerners who value and treasure their rich patrimony and inheritance should ask themselves: as the radical cultural Marxists engage in a concerted campaign—with the connivance of the news media (including Fox) and much of what passes for the establishment “conservative movement”—to wipe the horizon clear of all monuments to our history, our heritage, and our heroes: where are the thousands of Southern-born folks who should be turning out and demanding that those extremists leave our monuments and symbols alone?

At home watching the latest episode of “America’s Got Talent” or Steve Harvey?  Out mowing the grass and drinking a cool one?

In other words, arranging the deck chairs on the RMS Titanic while the cultural Marxist ice berg does its work?

In other words: where are our fellow citizens when the local gang of professional Marxists, Black Lives Matter militants, and Antifa hooligans—with tacit okays from leaders of both political parties, and with the nodding approval of the press—organize a loud, semi-violent demonstration against those monuments which, they say, are “symbols of racism” and “white supremacy,” and threaten to destroy them (just like they did in Durham, NC)?

Where are our fellow citizens when the local liberal and spineless Republican office-holders, afraid of being labeled “racists,” hold quickly-planned “public input sessions” to decide the fate of those symbols?

Where are our fellow citizens when the few heritage defense organizations that do exist hold public events, such as Lee Day, Confederate Flag Day, or Confederate Memorial Day observances? Sitting on their duffs while those elements who wish to extinguish not just our heritage, but us as well, continue on their cancerous and destructive rampage to transform our institutions and culture?

Back in 2007, as chairman of North Carolina’s annual Confederate Flag Day (sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans), I brought down nationally-known traditionalist conservative author, Dr. Paul Gottfried, to address our event. His speech was both a salute to Tar Heels who assembled to honor their heritage and a clarion call to Southerners to defend their heritage, and his presentation was reprinted later in the Confederate Veteran magazine.

In a more recent essay he asks the same question I ask of my fellow citizens now, and not only of my fellow Southerners: where are you? Here is part of what he writes (“Southern Cultural Cleansing: A Northern Perspective,” June 26, 2018, at: https://www.reckonin.com/paul-gottfried/southern-cultural-cleansing-a-northern-perspective):

As a Northerner, I am appalled by the very limited opposition to this government-sponsored vandalism that has come from Southern whites, many of whose ancestors were involved in the struggle for Southern independence. When I watched the events in Charlottesville unfold last year, I kept asking myself why millions of Southerners had not descended on the Confederate war monument located in the city center to protest its removal, before those with a different agenda took advantage of the protest for their own use. In a commentary, I contrasted the generally weak Southern response to the ongoing extirpation and blackening of their ancestral history to the way Italians in New York City responded to the efforts of the local Taliban to pull down statues of Columbus. The question I addressed is why Italian Americans cared more about Columbus, an Italian who sailed to the New World under a Spanish flag five hundred years ago, than Southerners cared about honoring the memory of a great American hero who was one of their own.

​What complicates this matter for me is that the vicious attack on the Southern past is part of something that goes well beyond the states that formed the onetime Confederacy. It is the opening round of what is likely to become a violent struggle for a total Cultural Marxist transformation of this country. Those who engage in politics as usual have tried to dislodge this concern from our minds. But the reconstruction continues to take place, and the defacing and ripping down of Confederate monuments is symptomatic of something much bigger and more ominous. For those who haven’t noticed:  our media and educational institutions are inciting this transformation; and our established conservative movement is doing zilch to prevent it from happening.       

As our vicious and unhinged enemies attempt to liquidate our past where are those thousands of sons and daughters of the South (and their allies from other parts of the nation) willing to stand up and say to the culture crazies: “Halt! No further: leave our symbols alone—go back to your filthy hovels—better yet, be true to your convictions and take the next boat to North Korea (about which your web sites wax admiringly). I’m sure the Fearless Leader Kim can find a use for your brains-dulled-by-drugs, unwashed selves!”